Newspaper Page Text
Banks County Gazette.
VOL 2.—NO. 10.
The Sixteenth Century.
BY MRS. L. A. DOROCGH.
Dedicated to the Literary Societies of
Banks County.
In preparing this lecture on the
sixteenth century the writer has
copied largely from Miss Virginia
Townsend’s historical sketches. Also
from Agnes Strickland’s “Queens of
England,” and if she could get our
young people interested in history
she would feel fully repaid for all
labor in trving to interest them.
My theme is the sixteenth century.
My object in publishing this lecture,
which was first written to be deliver
ed to the Bushville Literary club, is
to induce our young people to study
history more, and I could not choose
a better subject than that old century
so remnrkable for the grand historic
characters who acted their part so
well on its stage.
From my earliest childhood I had
a passionate love for history, and
loved to fancy a world peopled, not
with the creatures of my own vivid
imagination, but with the sages and
heroes who have lived just such hu
man lives ns we are living and who,
on life’s great battle field, have come
out conqueror. As I wander in and
out among the hidden years of that
old century how many bright gar
lands of romance and poetry I could
weave about the old historic figures
who crowd the stage of this century.
A strange fascination holds us spell
bound as we unlock the door and
stand on the threshold. But let us
glance back just a moment to the
fifteenth century.
This century was in its evening
twilight when an unknown adventurer,
a tall, thin Genoese mariner, getting
past the prime of life, with a long,
sharply cut, striking face, worn by
anxiety and withered hopes, was
pleading at the courts of Europe for
a few small vessels to sail out in quest
of new'countries. His name, Chris
topher Columbus, a little later and he
was to give t-o the world America;
youngest, fairest child of earth’s old
age, and for this was to be brought
home in chains, and sent at last, by
coldness, suspicion and neglect, to his
grave.
In England the “war of the rival
roses” had filled the land for long
weary years, w ith the best blood of
England, on twelve hotly contested
battle fields. Sometimes the red rose,
the symbol of the house of Lancaster,
and sometimes the white badge of
the house of York was successful.
Richard the 111 had waded to the
throne through the blood of his kin
dred. The right heiress to the throne
was a fair golden haired girl of nine
teen, Elizabeth of York, daughter of
Edward the IV, and the beautiful
unfortunate Elizabeth Woodville. Her
father had been slain and her young
brothers cruelly murdered in the dark
old tower of London, by their uncle,
Richard, the hunchbacked tyrant. At
last a remedy was suggested. The
twining of the glowing red and the
pure white rose into a bridal wreath
b, the manage of Henry Tuder,
Earl of Richmond and the fair white
rose of York as Elizabeth was called.
It was in the pleasant summer days
of 1482 that Henry set sail from Nor
mandy in quest of a wife and a crown.
It was at Bosworth the battle was
fought that decided the destinies of
the Tuders. It was to stand on the
page of English history bathed in an
atmosphere of romance and glory and
at which all the Tuder line would
turn afterwards with pride, for that
battle field was the morning sunrise
of their long day of pomp and power.
Shakespeare makes all the murdered
victims of Richard rise to haunt his
slumhers tle night before the battle.
The good angels attended the slum
bers of Richmond.
Richard fought with a courage
worthr of a better man, knowing he
was fighting for life and a Crown.
Twice he was cut down before his
enemies and spoke these memorable
words “a horse, a horse, my kingdom
for a horse,” and at the last he fell
fighting gallantly to the last and the
August sun, high in the heavens,
looked down on the dying strugles of
the last of the Plantagnet kings,
looked down too, on four thousand of
his followers lying dead on the battle
field. Henry of Richmond stood at
last triumphant after twenty-nine
years of suffering, < f peril, of impris
onment, of exile. In their wild joy a
cry rent the air, “Long live King
Henry the VII. For more than a
century England was to hail the name
and race with that old battle shout of
Boswortli field, and no June roses
were ever sweeter or fairer than
those that were twined into a bridal
wreath to crown the bow of the fail
young queen a few months later.
About this time Caxton, undis
turbed by all the war and bloodshed
around him, was setting up the first
printing press, which was to do more
for the world than king’s sceptre or
warrior’s sword.
The first figure that attracts our
attention as we step into the six
teenth century is coarse, self-willed
Henry VIII, the modern “Bluebeard.”
For reasons of state policy lie had
married the widow of his brother
Author, the fair, virtuous and true
wife and mother, Katherine of Ara
gon, daughter of Ferdinand and
Isabella, king and queen of Spain, and
neiee to the great Charles V, who
afterwards played such a conspicu
ous part in the persecution of Luther
and the Protestant religion. Among
the maids of honor of the queen was
a young, beautiful, and accomplished
woman who had held the same office
to Queen Claude of France.
This woman, with rare coquetry,
dissimulation and flattery, had won
the heart of Henry, and he had de
termined to make her his bride, though
to do this the woman who had worn
the crown of England for twenty
years must lie dethroned and her
marriage declared illegal, her idolized
daughter deprived of her birth-tight
and denied the title of princess.
When the Pope of Home refused his
sanction, Henry, with the proud,
s übborn will that ever characterized
his race, resisted his power and
established the church of England
with himself as its head. Katherine
was banished from court anl her
youii/, fair rival, in her proud, inso
lent triumph was crowned queen of
England. Never was there a gayer
scene in old London than when Annie
Bolen rode in her white chariot from
the tower of London to he crowned
queen. She had been long waiting
for this day. Among the green
shades of her country home it had
glittered for years among all her
hopes and dreams. She had reached,
as few human beings ever do, the
summit of h r ambition. She was
queen of England. The air was fra
grant with the breath of spring roses
the beautiful English haw-thorn was
everywhere blooming, diffusing its
sweet perfume and the wreaths were
still hanging on the May poles. All
nature was at its fairest when Annie
Bolen rode through the streets of
London in her supreme loveliness
that last day of the beautiful May
weather. There she sits in her
radiant beauty and grace, the hrido of
a king. Her long fair hair fell loose
upon her shoulders and her face in
its youthful pride and triumph was at
its fairest that May morning. The
great court painter, Holbein, left it to
future generations on canvass, but the
real charm of the face which had
fascinated the king was something
which no artist ever caught in his
divinest rapture of brush or chisel.
And yet, as I follow the chariot and
the woman who sits there, my heart
aches for her with a real human pity.
Yes, leaning across the dusky cen
turies to where that last spring morn
ing shines out in the May my' heart
aches for the woman, thinking of her
brief day of pomp and splendor.
Thinking too of the end of it all only
three Mays later. We wonder some
times if, as she came out from under
her rich canopy and was led up to
the high altar to be anointed and
crowned queen of England, 1 er long
hair floating around her from its
wreath of diamonds if one spectre
did not rise and steal a sudden shad
ow across all her bliss. The spectre
HOMER, BANKS COUNTY, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1801.
| of a pale, sad, broken hearted woman
I whose place she had usurped. We
do know' that away down at Ampt
hill that fair May morning, while the
guns were firing from the tower and
the long glittering cavalcade was
passing, Katherine of Aragon was
sitting in her stately grief, lonely and
desolate, denied even the presence of
her child. She, the daughter of a
long line of Spanish kings, who had
worn the crown of England for twen
ty years, to have it torn from her
brow to be placed upon that of a
younger, fairer rival. It must have
been a bitter, galling thought to the
proud woman to see the young maid
of honor, of low birth, take her place
on the throne as wife of Henry Tuder.
What thoughts must have crowded
on the stern, proud soul of the wo
man as she sat in Tier loneliness and
grief, while outside the woods and
fields around Ampthill were bright
with the joy of the May morning,
she remembered her happy childhood
when she played in the sunny gardens
of the Alhambra. She must have
thought of her autumn journey from
Spain when she came a young girl in
her teens to wed the heir of the
English crown. But now she is a
dishonored wife, an uncrowned queen.
Surely Katherine must have felt her
self the most insulted, the most out
raged oi women.
But Annie Bolen’s day of triumph
was short lived. Jane Seymore, an
other fair maid of honor, had won the
heart of the fickle monarch, and the
worst of crimes was laid to her
charge.
[TO UK CONTINUED.]
The Issue.
As much as the currency question
has been agitated within the past
fifteen years, but few people seem to
realize the magnitude of its impor
tance. The important question which
every American voter should ask him
self is: “How will an increase of
the currency effect me?” Let us see
what the answer to this question will
be in the light of existing and incon
trovertible facts.
David 11 nine, a celebrated writer
on political economy says:
“We find that in every kingdom
into which money begins to flow in
greater abundance than formerly,
everything takes anew face; labor
and industry gain life, merchants be
come more enterprising, the manu
facturers more diligent and skillful,
and the farmer follows his plow with
greater attention and alaci ity. The
good policy of the government con
sists of keeping it, if possible still in
creasing, as long as there is an emi
grant, because by that means is kept
alive a spirit of industry in the na
tion, which increases (he stock of
Libor, in which consists all real power
and riches.”
We might continue indefinitely to
quote authorities similar to the above,
but it is only necessary to add that
not a single writer on political econ
omy' that is respectable enough to be
called authority' on the subject, hut
that agrees that the increase of the
volume of currency, it creases the
price of property, commodities and
labor.
The Alliance demands an increase
to SSO per capita. This would be
more than double the amount we
now have. According to the above
authoiities this would double the
value of property, products and labor.
Are you a farmer. How will it effect
you? If you have a farm with a
SI,OOO mortgage on it which, if sold
under the hammer, would not bring
more than £I,OOO, it increases the
value of that farm to $2,000, restor
ing to you your equity of SI,OOO iu
the farm. If the surplus you sell off
the farm, for money to pay debts and
taxes, amounts to S3OO, it increases
this amount to S6OO. The bushel of
wheat it requires to pay transporta
tion on two bushel, will be made to
pay transportation on four bushels.
Everything you sell will bring you
double the amount you now receive
and enable you to pay twice the
amount you now do on your debts.
Are you a mechanic, your wages
will be doubled and your surplus
earnings twice wliat they now are.
An increase in the volume of curren
cy'to double its present volume is
equivolent to scaling the rates of
transportation to one-half the present
rate. It is equivolent to reducing
the value of railroad stocks and
bonds one-half. This will take most
of the water out of them. It is
equivolent to reducing all salaries
and fixed incomes one-half. It will
go a great way in assisting to settle
the land question by enabling the
present occupants to pay off their
mortgages and retain their farms.
By adding 75 cents or $l.OO to the
value of every bushel of wheat, or 8
to 10 cents to every pound of cotton
it enables the farmer more readily to
pay the 10 or 15 conts tariff tax on
the axe he buys or the $l.OO or
$2.00 on his plows. If the value of
the product of labor is doubled, all
the tariff tax on all the farmer has to
buy will not amount to one-fifth of
the increased value of the products
of his labor. Thus the tariff ques
tion is lade in the shade by the over
shadowing importance of t.ie currency
issue. In the proper solution of the
finance question, the transportation
problem and the land question are
already a long ways towards a proper
settlement. But what effect will this
have on other classes of citizens? To
the Congressman it means a reduc
tion of his salary by decreasing the
purchasing value of a dollar.
To a railroad magnate it means a
reduction in the value of his stocks
and bonds.
To a banker it means the suppres
sion of the usury system and his
profits from the same.
To a lawyer it means a reduction
of his fee.
To the boodle politician it means
that the corrupting influence and
power “money to oppress” is broken
and his avocation is gone.
To every class engaged in legiti
mate enterprise it means new life,
happiness and prosperity.
To those who absorb the profits of
industry without giving an equivolent
it means they must go to work and
earn their money honestly.
It is the living, burning issue of
the hour. All others hinge more or
less upon this. Herald it before the
great plain people. Agitate it. Talk
it, write it and sing it. Proclaim it
from every hill top and in every val
ley. It is the glad tidings of anew
declaration of independence. Teach
it to the down trodden and oppressed
people and every eye will sparkle
with the light of anew hope. Every
heart will respond to its glorious, lib
erty giving sentiment and pledge
allegiance to every effort for its final
eonsumatipn. There are only two
sides to the question. There is no
middle ground. All must be arrayed
on the one side or the other. It is
to see whether we will, as a govern
ment, continue in the future as in the
past, to increase the purchasing value
of the dollar, or whether we will be
gin to retrace our steps and increase
the price of the products of labor.
On the one side are arrayed the
banker, bondholder, bullionist, boodle
taker, subsidized press, subsidized
lawyers, subsidized statesmen, rail
road kings, standard oil kings, tele
graph kings, board of trade kings and
beef kings.
With their great array of Pinker
ton thugs, blocks of five politicians,
Ward bummers, Tatnany heelers,
pc. \to lawyers, pettifogging squirts,
cross roads whippers-in, court house
rings, smooth-tongued demagogues,
ballot box staffers, party bosses and
thousands of poor fools with smirk
ing faces and fawning manners, who
are ready to lay down on their bellies
while their political masters walk
over them and then get up and go
and vote themselves and children in
to a political hell of industrial slav
ery.
On the other side are the great
plain people—the giant of power
that has been slumbering for years—
who will hurl from place the minions
of the devil who have fastened upon
this country a condition of industrial
slavery worse than that of fuedal
days. Shall the citizen or the dollar
rule ?—Reformer.
The Future Outlook.
Notwithstanding the constant and
unremitting endeavors of the parti
san press to create the impression
that the present active and agressive
protest being made, on the part of the
people, against the present condition
of things is ephemeral and will soon
subside, the fact remains that the
word of education and agitation con
tinues to progress as it never did be
fore. It would seem that the great
dailies of our land that have become
miracles of enterprise w ould, in time
learn that vituperation, abuse and rid
icule are not arguments and are fit
weapons only for the demagogue and
political charlatan.
It is possible that the people inay
not he altogether right in all of their
demands for relief, but it is absolutely
certain that they have just cause of
complaint and that much of which
they complain is the result of vicious
class legislation. What the outcome
will be is hard to tell, but that the
people are passing through an evolu
tion of thought and investigation
which forebodes a radical change in
our economic, system is certainly plain
to the most casual abserver. Never
before have the bread winners, the
producers, shown the degree of inter
est in the political affairs of a nation
that is now T so prominently visible
everywhere. Education and organi
zation have been going on for many
years, but hitherto it has for the most
part been directed to the attainment
of greater efficiency iu the different
avocations. Asa natural result we
have not only the most skillful indus
trial laborers in the world, but what
is of vastly more importance the most
intelligent. The fanners, who consti
tute the bulk of the forces who are so
vigorously protesting against existing
evils are the most conservative peo
ple in the world. For years they
have suffered themselves to to robbed
rather than seek relief from burdens
which they are told would adjust
themselves if they would only con
tinue to vote for their party nominees.
So long as their action could he
swayed by arousing their passions,
and they could be induced to continue
their allegiance to the party leaders,
the great dailies accepted the situa
tion and the said leaders were happy.
This, too, in the face of the fact that
every session of congress was extend
ing the privileges of corporate wealth
and recklessly and extravagantly ad
ministering the affairs of government.
It is useless to review in detail the
numerous laws placed upon the stat
ute books at the instigation of the
money power, and with the conniv
ance of trusted servants of the people,
of both political parties, that have
enabled corporate wealth to spread
tentacles over almost every industry
throughout the land and absorb the
profits of honest labor.
How any one can imagine that the
dissatisfaction everywhere prevailing,
and which is the result of years of
suffering and destitution, can he of
momentary duration, is a character
istic that was most notably prominent
in Nero as he “fiddled while Rome
burned.” But the educational work
is rapidly going on. The people are
not ouly preparing to move but to
mave intelligently. Their platform
of principles is the result of years of
thought. Some of the men who
helped to frame that platform have
spent the host years of their life in
the study of economic questions.
They bring to the support of those
principles not only the best writers of
the past hut the history of successful
demonstration. It is true that the
adoption of their methods will revo
lutionize not only the financial but
the social condition.
No great reform was ever instituted
that did not revolutionize things.
The most encouraging feature in the
present reform movement is the pre
vailing harmony among the different
Labor organizations. There is a gen.
erar desire to unite upon the promt
cent measures for relief. This unfor-
SINGLE CORY THREE GENTS
tunately has not been the ease in past
years. It is the result of education.
This education has been attained
through the different organizations,
each in its own way imparting in
struction. The watchword now' is
unity, and unity will be had, for there
is no hope without it. The man who
attempts to promote discord m>w is
unworthy of the cause lie pretends to
resresent, and should be treated ac
cordingly. Tho fight is on. To turn
back is death. To go forward can be
no worse. The perpetuation of lib
erty is dependent on this struggle.
The people must win. And they will
win, because their cause is just. Let
the move everywhere go forward.
People’s Economist.
The Farmers and Their Foes.
In every great reform movement
certain discontented and unscrupu
lous fellows seek to ally themselves
with it in the hope of causing strife
and profiting by it.
From time to time we hear rumors
to the effect that in the northwest the
Alliance and the third party have at
tracted a good many of these hangers
on. It is said that they are secretly
pledged to resort to force if they can
not secure their demands through the
©
ballot box.
Now, the people of the United
States will make a great mistake if
they believe that these radical social
ists constitute an influential element
in the Alliance. They are in no sense
the friends of the farmers, and the
farmers as a mass will not counte
nance them. Even in this, the most,
tremendous popular reform eriVsado
that has ever been known, our agri
culturists are proceeding with that
conservatism which is their distin
guishing characteristic. They Would
build up instead of tearing down.
They would protect the millionaire as
well as the pauper. They urge that
labor should receive its just reward,
but none of their schemes contemplate
anything in the shape of communism.
They demand money enough to meet
the wants of legitimate bit iness, but
they want honest money, and not fiat
money. They propose to move along
peaceful lines, exercising moderation
in victory, and patience in defeat.
It is an insult o the intelligence of
these honest and law-abiding home
owners, the backbone and mainstay
of the republic, to hold thorn respon
sible for the crazy anarchists in the
northwest who are as thoroughly un-
American as the I lay market gang of
Chicago. If any hangers-on of tho
Alliance begin to spread their lawless
doctrines, the farmers will suppress
them in short order. A great cause
can not afford to shelter these com
munists under its spotless banner.—
Atlanta Constitution.
From the records of the senior
class of Yale college during the past
eight years, the non-smokers have
proved to have decidedly gained over
the smokers in strength, weight and
lung capacity. All candidates for the
crews and other athletic sports were
non-smokers. The non smokers were
twenty per cent taller, twenty-five per
cent heavier and of sixty per cent
more lung capacity than the smokers.
In the graduating class of Amherst
college of the present vean,. those not
using tobacco have gained in weight
twenty per cent, in height thirty
seven per cent in chest, and girt forty
two per cent over those using tobacco,
while they have a greater Ituung capaci
ty, 8.30 cubic inches.—Medical News.
A soldier wrote home for a supply
of cash. Appended to tlie letter was
the following postscript urn : “I felt
so ashamed at having asked you to
send me ten francs that I ran to the
postofllce to get my letter hack. Un
fortunately it had gone.”—Kecit Oral.
Mrs. Solomon—“ George, I shall
need anew pair of slippers this week.
The sides of these, old ones are com
pletely worn out.”
Johnny Solomon—“ Papa, I shall
need anew pair of trousers this week-
The seat of these old ones is com
pletely worn out.”—Puck.